It’s Christmas over here, but loved ones are serving over there

Published: Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 08:04 PM.

Carolyn Misencik said she prefers the holiday season because the time seems to moves faster thanks to parties, school functions and other events during November and December.

“You just go day by day,” Misencik said. “Some days are better than others.”

Her husband, Jacob, is a captain in the Air Force, and is currently deployed to Qatar. The couple have three children: 4-year-old Carson who understands for the first time where his father is and what’s going on; 1-year-old Avery, who thinks Daddy lives in the computer because that is where she has seen him the most, and 3-month-old Trent.

When Jacob Misencik gets home in February he will meet Trent, in person, for the very first time. In seven years of marriage Jacob Misencik has been deployed nine times.

“It’s military life. It’s what I married,” Carolyn Misencik said. “I’m not going to be that wife that holds him back. He has to do his job. We’re all very proud of him.”

Susan Holder, her husband Shade, a chief petty officer and diver in the U.S. Navy, and her kids, 21-year-old Jonathon and 19-year-old Kayla, are veterans when it comes to dealing with the holidays during a deployment.

“You be strong for your children and you be strong for your husband and the bottom line is at the end of the day you have to put your children first during the holidays,” Susan Holder said.

PANAMA CITY — Even though he is in Afghanistan, Mike Biastock, a staff sergeant. in the Air Force, will get to see his kids, 15-month-old Ashur and 6-year-old Aiden open gifts on Christmas morning.

He’ll be watching via Skype, a technology that allows video phone calls through computers and other devices connected to the Internet.

He’s thankful for the technology but being on a yearlong deployment is hard, Biastock and his wife, Madye, said during interviews last week.

“I have missed everything,” Biastock said via Facebook message.

The couple has been married for eight years but this is the first year he was deployed away from her.

“Thanksgiving was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Madye Biastock said. “Emotionally I couldn’t handle it.”

She added that she was invited to a Thanksgiving by another family but it was difficult to watch someone else’s family all together while her husband was gone.

Carolyn Misencik said she prefers the holiday season because the time seems to moves faster thanks to parties, school functions and other events during November and December.

“You just go day by day,” Misencik said. “Some days are better than others.”

Her husband, Jacob, is a captain in the Air Force, and is currently deployed to Qatar. The couple have three children: 4-year-old Carson who understands for the first time where his father is and what’s going on; 1-year-old Avery, who thinks Daddy lives in the computer because that is where she has seen him the most, and 3-month-old Trent.

When Jacob Misencik gets home in February he will meet Trent, in person, for the very first time. In seven years of marriage Jacob Misencik has been deployed nine times.

“It’s military life. It’s what I married,” Carolyn Misencik said. “I’m not going to be that wife that holds him back. He has to do his job. We’re all very proud of him.”

Susan Holder, her husband Shade, a chief petty officer and diver in the U.S. Navy, and her kids, 21-year-old Jonathon and 19-year-old Kayla, are veterans when it comes to dealing with the holidays during a deployment.

“You be strong for your children and you be strong for your husband and the bottom line is at the end of the day you have to put your children first during the holidays,” Susan Holder said.

Over the years, the family did several different things to try and deal with the situation. One year, when the kids were small, they called Santa and got him to postpone their Christmas until Daddy came home in January.

“We called Santa and we made arrangements,” Susan Holder said. “You get very creative as a military spouse. We had 1-800 hotlines to the Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.”

Sen. Master Sgt. Theresa Moran serves at the Airman and Family Readiness Center on Tyndall Air Force Base. The center supports single airmen and family members when they need resources to help with financial needs, deployment needs, transitions and volunteer work.

Moran said there is a lot of support for military families during the holidays, including key spouses, chaplains and other consultation services.

“The biggest thing, I think, is just trying to keep normalcy,” Moran said. Spouses do that by keeping pictures around, using technology to stay in touch and sending care packages as much as possible, she added.

This year Shade Holder is scheduled to be home for Christmas.

“We appreciate the non-commercial side of the holidays when Daddy’s home. It’s not about the presents under the tree,” Susan Holder said. “It’s about family time.”

She added that life with a military spouse becomes about making the best of the time you have.

“Sometimes there is not a tomorrow,” she said.

For the Biastocks, tomorrow begins again in February when Mike is scheduled to come home. He said that he plans to take some leave and go on vacation with his wife and kids.